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II
The Buddhist Tirthas II
Many of the Jain and Buddhist tirthas
(fords) lies in the ganges basin, where Mahavira, the jain saint, and the
Buddhalived, taught and died.
The world's principal Buddhist tirth is
Bodh Gaya, the Shrine that marks the place of Budha's enlightment.Bodh
Gaya is a small town in Gaya district of Bihar in India. It is the place where
Shakyamani Gautama Buddha reached enlightenment. Since early in the history of
Buddhism it has been a sacred place of pilgrimage and attracted pilgrims from
all over the Buddhist world.
The main focus of activity is the tree under which the
Buddha gained enlightenment, the temple next to the tree, and the sacred
complex surrounding the tree and temple. Every year thousands of pilgrims from
every Buddhist country in the world visit this sacred site.
Just 13 kilometres from Varanasi is Isipathana, now
called Sarnath , the deer park where the Buddha first
proclaimed the Dhamma to the world. He taught two discourses here, the Dhammacakkhapavathana
Sutta and the profound Anattalakhana Sutta.
Kusinara
in the eastern Uttar Pradesh, is the place where the historical Buddha died and
was cremated. Buddha (Prince Siddhartha) was born in a lovely garden called
Lumbini. The main things to see in Lumbini today are the Asokan pillar with its
inscription mentioning that "here the Buddha was born".
Lumbini
is just a few kilometres inside Nepal but getting there requires all the
formalities of crossing an international border.
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